This paper investigates the origins of the piano recital as invented by Franz Liszt, presents varying strategies for program design, and compares Liszt's application of the format with current trends. In addition it examines the concepts of program music, musical ekphrasis, and Gesamtkunstwerk and proposes a new multimedia piano concert format in which music combines with the mediums of literature and the visual arts; Picturing Rachmaninoff, and Picturing Ravel provide two recent examples of this format.

Research in fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in performance has included CD recording projects, commissions of new pieces, as well as papers on existing pieces that push the performer beyond traditional playing by incorporating extended techniques, multimedia, technology, or movement. This study attempts to synthesize these ideas by commissioning a new work for clarinet and electronics that can be performed alone, combined with movement, or with an interactive video accompaniment. Primary work for this project has been the audio recording, music video, and live dance performance of the new work, entitled Agents of Espionage, which can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAZ20kCb0Qg or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94- C7wWTeKs&context;=C4063fdcADvjVQa1PpcFPv1fBtuWcqgV638q_BRacH7 XWR-xy1B7A=. The entirety of the project, including creating the music, video, audio recordings, and dance was completed on a limited budget of under $500USD, using all student performers and creators. The accompanying written document outlines the various steps for completing each portion of the project, interviews with the artists involved, including Zachary Bramble, composer; Jason Mills, videographer; and Jacquelyn Achord, choreographer; and an analysis of the music from the performer's perspective. This paper should convey ideas about how future undertakings of this sort are possible. This work has been greatly inspired by Martin Fröst and his collaboration with Fredrik Hogberg on the piece The Invisible Duet.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that produces a characteristic set of neuromotor deficits that sometimes includes reduced amplitude and velocity of movement. Several studies have shown that people with PD improved their motor performance when presented with external cues. Other work has demonstrated that high velocity and large amplitude exercises can increase the amplitude and velocity of movement in simple carryover tasks in the upper and lower extremities. Although the cause for these effects is not known, improvements due to cueing suggest that part of the neuromotor deficit in PD is in the integration of sensory feedback to produce motor commands. Previous studies have documented some somatosensory deficits, but only limited information is available regarding the nature and magnitude of sensorimotor deficits in the shoulder of people with PD. The goals of this research were to characterize the sensorimotor impairment in the shoulder joint of people with PD and to investigate the use of visual feedback and large amplitude/high velocity exercises to target PD-related motor deficits. Two systems were designed and developed to use visual feedback to assess the ability of participants to accurately adjust limb placement or limb movement velocity and to encourage improvements in performance of these tasks. Each system was tested on participants with PD, age-matched control subjects and young control subjects to characterize and compare limb placement and velocity control capabilities. Results demonstrated that participants with PD were less accurate at placing their limbs than age-matched or young control subjects, but that their performance improved over the course of the test session such that by the end, the participants with PD performed as well as controls. For the limb velocity feedback task, participants with PD and age-matched control subjects were less accurate than young control subjects, but at the end of the session, participants with PD and age-matched control subjects were as accurate as the young control subjects. This study demonstrates that people with PD were able to improve their movement patterns based on visual feedback of performance and suggests that this feedback paradigm may be useful in exercise programs for people with PD.

Wireless video sensor networks has been examined and evaluated for wide range

of applications comprising of video surveillance, video tracking, computer vision, remote

live video and control. The reason behind importance of sensor nodes is its ease

of implementation, ability to operate in adverse environments, easy to troubleshoot,

repair and the high performance level. The biggest challenges with the architectural

design of wireless video sensor networks are power consumption, node failure,

throughput, durability and scalability. The whole project here is to create a gateway

node to integrate between "Internet of things" framework and wireless sensor network.

Our Flexi-Wireless Video Sensor Node Platform (WVSNP) is a low cost, low

power and compatible with traditional sensor network where the main focus was on

maximizing throughput or minimizing node deployment. My task here in this project

was to address the challenges of video power consumption for wireless video sensor

nodes. While addressing the challenges, I performed analysis of predicting the nodes

durability when it is battery operated and to choose appropriate design parameters.

I created a small optimized image to boot up Wandboard DUAL/QUAD board, capture

videos in small/big chunks from the board. The power analysis was performed

for only capturing scenarios, playback of reference videos and, live capturing and realtime

playing of videos on WVSNP player. Each sensor node in sensor network are

battery operated and runs without human intervention. Thus to predict nodes durability,

for dierent video size and format, I have collected power consumption results

and based on this I have provided some recommendation of HW/SW architecture.

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I am interested in performance that includes multiple artistic media. I am looking for a way to communicate with other artists that can clearly express the meaning of an artistic gesture that they can interpret for their medium. I wish to make transmedia performance art with a meaning that is clear to an audience. That meaning can be abstract. Sometimes we call art "abstract" to imply that it has no perceivable meaning. However, everything has meaning. Even if a piece of art does not have narrative meaning, we can still perceive a structure. That is thanks to our imagination. Imagination is our way of making sense of our experience. I believe that if I can identify some of the imaginative structures through which I perceive and understand my own work, I can use those structures to annotate or organize scores for improvised performance pieces. I am interested in how we understand art. One theory of understanding, which comes from Mark Johnson, involves "image schemata." Image schemata (sing. schema) are basic, abstract structures that we develop based on what we perceive from our physical interactions with the environment. We project these structures that come from a physical domain onto the mental domain. Johnson calls this process "metaphorical projection," and he calls our ability to do this "imagination." By metaphorically projecting image schemata from one domain to another, we form meaning of our experiences, and thus contribute to our understanding of the world. I believe that I can use image schemata to explain the meanings inherent in the art I make and to explain the connections in meaning between one artistic medium to another. I wish to apply this in a transmedia performance setting. First, I will analyze previous transmedia works in terms of image schemata. Second, I will make a score using image schemata for an improvised performance. Third, I will reflect on the results of attempting to rehearse that score.

Scholars have diversified notions of sovereignty with indigenous frameworks ranging from native sovereignty to cultural sovereignty. Within this range, there exists only a small body of research investigating technology in relation to indigenous sovereignty, excepting the colonial implications of guns, germs, film, and literacy. Furthermore, there is a lack of inquiry on how indigenous peoples operationalize their sovereignty through designs and uses of technology that combine emerging digital media technologies, old electronic media, and traditional indigenous media. This “indigenous convolution media” leads to what is referred to in this research as Indigenous Technological Sovereignty or “Tecno-Sovereignty.”

This dissertation begins to address knowledge gaps regarding the dynamic relationship between technology and indigenous sovereignty, and it posits that Tecno-Sovereignty is operationalized when indigenous groups exercise their own self-determined designs and uses of mediums and media to address their particular needs and desires. Therefore, Tecno-Sovereignty is comprised of the social, cultural, political, and economic effects of indigenous technology. This dissertation, a compendium of essays, presents an indigenous theory of media and sovereignty: defining a vision of Tecno-Sovereignty; arguing the purpose and importance of Tecno-Sovereignty; demonstrating how Tecno-Sovereignty is operationalized; and revealing capacity-building recommendations for the further development of indigenous technological sovereignty. Additionally, this research, through an exhibition of indigenous convolution media, calls attention to indigenous praxes of art, technology, and learning that are both grounded by and support the theories proposed in this research.

Wittgenstein’s claim: anytime something is seen, it is necessarily seen as something, forms the philosophical foundation of this research. I synthesize theories and philosophies from Simondon, Maturana, Varela, Wittgenstein, Pye, Sennett, and Reddy in a research process I identify as a paradigm construction project. My personal studio practice of inventing experiential media systems is a key part of this research and illustrates, with practical examples, my philosophical arguments from a range of points of observation. I see media systems as technical objects, and see technical objects as structurally determined systems, in which the structure of the system determines its organization. I identify making, the process of determining structure, as a form of structural coupling and see structural coupling as a means of knowing material. I introduce my theory of conceptual plurifunctionality as an extension to Simondon’s theory. Aspects of materiality are presented as a means of seeing material and immaterial systems, including cultural systems. I seek to answer the questions: How is structure seen as determining the organization of systems, and making seen as a process in which the resulting structures of technical objects and the maker are co-determined? How might an understanding of structure and organization be applied to the invention of contemporary experiential media systems?

The term “friend zone” has been used in various areas of social media and pop culture to define a situation where one individual covets a relationship with a close friend that never evolves; typically the situation includes a male seeking a potential romantic partner with a female. Although friendship is often viewed in a positive format and sometimes the foundation of a healthy relationship, this term has been stigmatized as an unfortunate situation and counterproductive to obtaining a fulfilling relationship.

To approach the multi-faceted concern of friend zone phenomena and the many areas damaging messages that occur, my thesis starts with the history of friend zone phenomena, establishing a definition of friend zone phenomena for future scholars. Next literature on friendship and love, and Galician’s work used for both the methodology and theoretical framework is introduced leading to the analysis. The methodology and theoretical framework for the analysis uses Mary-Lou Galician’s 7-Step-Reality-Check-Up, twelve Myths social media promoted as the preferred reading and the Twelve Prescriptions (Rxs) for Getting Real About Romance. Resources on the discourses of gender performativity, psychology, and sociology are also included in the theoretical framework.

I start with an introduction to retrograde misogyny, The Manosphere (including The Red Pill [TRP]), the Elliot Rodger case and rape culture. This initial segment is analyzed differently from the other texts to describe the crux of social justice issues within friend zone phenomena. I then analyze 10 online memes related to friend zone phenomena. Lastly, I analyze Jet and Star’s new book, How to Get out of the Friend Zone –their book is a textual version of the advice they give on their YouTube channel.

Throughout all the texts Myths 5 (Physical Attraction), 6 (Man = Stronger), and 13 (No Cross-Sexual Friends) were all proposed as the preferred reading. Myth 14 (Men Want Sex/Women Want Money) was prevalent across the memes and TRP/Rational Male. All four myths are laden with gender performativity with damaging perceptions of healthy and respectful relationships. Additional research on friend zone phenomena in the form of interviews and surveys is recommended as research is still sparse.

As the application of interactive media systems expands to address broader problems in health, education and creative practice, they fall within a higher dimensional space for which it is inherently more complex to design. In response to this need an emerging area of interactive system design, referred to as experiential media systems, applies hybrid knowledge synthesized across multiple disciplines to address challenges relevant to daily experience. Interactive neurorehabilitation (INR) aims to enhance functional movement therapy by integrating detailed motion capture with interactive feedback in a manner that facilitates engagement and sensorimotor learning for those who have suffered neurologic injury. While INR shows great promise to advance the current state of therapies, a cohesive media design methodology for INR is missing due to the present lack of substantial evidence within the field. Using an experiential media based approach to draw knowledge from external disciplines, this dissertation proposes a compositional framework for authoring visual media for INR systems across contexts and applications within upper extremity stroke rehabilitation. The compositional framework is applied across systems for supervised training, unsupervised training, and assisted reflection, which reflect the collective work of the Adaptive Mixed Reality Rehabilitation (AMRR) Team at Arizona State University, of which the author is a member. Formal structures and a methodology for applying them are described in detail for the visual media environments designed by the author. Data collected from studies conducted by the AMRR team to evaluate these systems in both supervised and unsupervised training contexts is also discussed in terms of the extent to which the application of the compositional framework is supported and which aspects require further investigation. The potential broader implications of the proposed compositional framework and methodology are the dissemination of interdisciplinary information to accelerate the informed development of INR applications and to demonstrate the potential benefit of generalizing integrative approaches, merging arts and science based knowledge, for other complex problems related to embodied learning.

The overall purpose of this study was to explore the dynamics of teaching and learning in the context of an informal, online discussion forum. This investigation utilized the Community of Inquiry (CoI) elements of Teaching Presence and Social Presence along with the construct of Learning Presence to examine Adobe® Forums, Photoshop® for Beginners Forum (PfBF) an internet discussion forum designed to provide support for beginning users of Adobe Photoshop. The researcher collected four days of discussion post data comprising 62 discussion threads for a total of 202 discussion posts. During this initial pilot analysis, the discussion threads were divided into posts created by members who were deemed to be acting as teachers and posts written by members acting as learners. Three analyses were conducted. First, a pilot analysis was conducted where the researcher divided the data in half and coded 31 discussion threads and a total of 142 discussion posts with the Teaching Presence, Social Presence and Learning Presence coding schemes. Second, a reliability analysis was conducted to determine the interrater reliability of the coding schemes. For this analysis two additional coders were recruited, trained and coded a small subsample of data (4 discussion threads for a total of 29 discussion posts) using the same three coding schemes. Third, a final analysis was conducted where the researcher coded and analyzed 134 discussion posts created by 24 teachers using the Teaching Presence coding scheme. At the conclusion of the final analysis, it was determined that eighteen percent (18%) of the data could not be coded using the Teaching Presence coding scheme. However, this data were observed to contain behavioral indicators of Social Presence. Consequently, the Social Presence coding scheme was used to code and analyze the remaining data. The results of this study revealed that forum members who interact on PfBF do indeed exhibit Teaching Presence behaviors. Direct Instruction was the largest category of Teaching Presence behaviors exhibited, over and above Facilitating Discussion and Design and Organization. It was also observed that forum members serving in the role of teachers exhibit behaviors of Social Presence alongside Teaching Presence behaviors.